High-ranking Chinese aviation official visits Florida

The secretary general of one of China’s most successful aviation industrial city complexes visited Central Florida last week seeking economic development partnerships in general aviation.

Jin Qian Sheng, secretary general of the China Aviation Industrial Base in Xian, met with economic development and county officials and Enterprise Florida, the state’s public-private economic development organization. Several private business meetings also were arranged, highlighted by a tour of Melbourne International Airport.

China plans to open all its airspace under 3,000 meters (9,842 feet) to general aviation flights by 2015. Jin’s visit offered a unique opportunity to create valuable business partnerships to take advantage of a vast new market, said David Chen, managing director of Asia for Federal Aerospace Holdings Group LLC, who arranged the visit.

“When Japan opened its general aviation market in the 1970s, it took 20 years to meet demand,” he said. “The Chinese market is 12 times bigger. I predict explosive growth in general aviation in China, highlighted by the 1,000% increase in registered general aviation aircraft over the last year.”

Chad Lewis, Federal Aerospace’s managing director of North America, said the Chinese general aviation market will create a huge demand for parts, aircraft, maintenance services and pilot training.

“The pent-up demand is unprecedented and holds the potential to create thousands of jobs in the U.S. for the right companies,” Lewis said.

This week’s visit by Jin, considered the architect of China’s general aviation industry, was a significant first step, company officials said.

“Mr. Jin’s visit laid the groundwork for ongoing mutually beneficial economic development opportunities to expand U.S. businesses into China as well as bringing Chinese based firms here, thereby creating jobs both in the U.S. and China,” Lewis said.

Jin has a strong track record for creating jobs and successful international partnerships. His efforts have resulted in 400 companies with more than 5,000 employees expanding into Xian. That figure should grow to 20,000 employees by the end of 2012 counting staff in China and in the companies’ home countries. As head of Xian’s High-Tech Commission, Jin helped create more than 600,000 jobs.